Sonic Squad: Time Cracks Open
by Coleiosis
Summary: Mario meets his old self from the past, mostly because Dr. Eggman's new machine works. The Egg Timer would bring anything back from the past, so he's up to no good. Especially with his sneaky little nephew around.


Sonic Squad: Time Cracks Open

By Cole Bezotte

One day, the Mario Bros. Plumbing Shop was put back together again as a meeting of the mighty Sonic Squad came to a close. Luigi was really excited to tell Sonic about his experience back at the Brooklyn Ball Park, mostly about fighting alongside with Christopher Thorndyke.

"Admit it, Luigi," Sonic said after Luigi told his terrific tale. "You're lying!"

"No, Sonic! You just got to believe me!" Luigi replied. "You should've seen him in action when he overthrew Dr. Eggman with his scientific knowledge."

"Luigi, are you sure that particular fellow lives here in Brooklyn? You're starting to sound like an adventurous-minded five-year-old."

As they were talking, they stepped outside the house, further arguing about what really happened. Meanwhile, Mario was still inside, putting away the last of the dishes used for the meal they had that night. Once everything was cleaned up and put back in order, he went into the living room to slump onto the couch and relax. He picked up a remote to switch on the television in front of him. But right when he was about to do so, he saw that the sink in the kitchen suddenly went berserk. It was spouting out water on and off over and over again.

Mario saw that this was definitely a call to action, but it had to take place in his own house rather than others. Quickly and eagerly, he grabbed a wrench and opened the cabinet door under the sink. He crawled inside, seeing how the pipes reacted with such powerful water pressure. "Hold it there, buddy!" Mario exclaimed as he stuck his wrench on the crazy pipe. "This will fix you up real good!"

Suddenly, a man came under the sink as well, holding another wrench exactly the same size. "Allow me," the man spoke up as moved the wrench's head around the pipe. "I'm a professional!" The two plumbers fixed the pipe and stopped the very hyper reaction that it was causing.

After all that work was done, the two plumbers crawled out from under the sink and stood back up to their feet. "Thanks for…" Mario started. But before he could finish his sentence he took a good look at the man standing in front of him. He immediately recognized the man's face: this man was Mario's past self! (Note: think of the Past Mario as the version from the Super Mario Bros. movie) "Look at you," Mario said, excited to see his old self again.

"What do you mean?" Past Mario replied, confused. "I'm Mario.

"Yes indeed! You are Mario!"

"And you better remember that! What have you done to my house?! Have you changed the theme!?"

"I've been living here my whole life, buster. Believe me, if there was even the slightest weak link that would've sparked in this house, the man to fix the job would be us."

"You mean ME!"

Right then, Luigi came back into the house and noticed Mario talking to his past self. "Mario!" Luigi exclaimed. "There's two of you!"

"What do you mean?!" Past Mario barked at Luigi. "I'm Mario, while this guy here is nothing but a pot-bellied dwarf!"

"Oh man! I remember that grumpy face! The shorter mustache, the old hat, and the taller shape! The memories are all coming back to me now!" Luigi smiled as he saw Past Mario's face droop in frustration.

"Just who the heck do you think you are?!" Past Mario barked.

"I'm your bro Luigi! You'll probably be seeing me like this later on in YOUR life."

"Come on, you guys! What the heck are you doing?! Is this an alternate dimension like the Mushroom Land?"

Mario stepped forward closer to Past Mario. "All you have to do is look at me. You'll soon find your answer."

"Oh no," Past Mario said as he shook his head. "This can't be."

"Oh yes it is!" the present Mario replied.

"You're a fan!"

"What?! No, no! You got it all wrong! I'm YOU!"

"Then you're my BIGGEST fan! And the same goes to that guy over there; he's a big fan of my brother Luigi! Although, my brother's growing in his mustache sooner."

Pretty soon, while they were talking, the sink started to make some noises again as the pipes began to act completely insane again. "Uh-oh!" Past Mario said as he saw what was going on. "This ain't happening in MY house!" With that, he pulled out his wrench and was about to fix the pipes again until the present Mario stepped in and stopped him in his tracks.

"Hold it, man," Mario said. "Just you watch this; it'll make you change your mind about who we really are." He crouched down to crawl underneath the sink again and move the wrench's head around the pipe over and over again. He was able to fix it all up in so short of a time, just like the Mario Bros. usually do. "There we are," Mario continued. "Good as new!"

Past Mario was astonished to see how amazing the present Mario managed to do such a good job. "That was impressive…" he stuttered, surprised. "Only I could've done that. This must be real."

"Face it, bub," Mario replied as he got back up to his feet. "You're in a time crash! I wonder who could've caused it, but it seems like a very awesome thing."

"So this IS real! I never knew! Then that fellow over there must be the REAL Luigi! This is just impossible!"

Luigi smiled as he replied: "Nothing's impossible, Mario. You just got to believe!"

Although things were going pretty smooth over at Mario Bros. Plumbing Shop, things were about to change after a mysterious figure had witnessed all of what had happened. Secretly looking through the window, Waluigi (disguised as a regular innocent pedestrian) watched as the whole scene unfolded before his very eyes. He raised his arm high enough for him to speak through a hidden communicator on his wrist: "It worked, boss! Things are finally going our way!"

Meanwhile, at the secret cave of Dr. Eggman, the evil scientist received Waluigi's message and had heard that his new invention resulted in a success. His new "Egg Timer" brought Mario from the past and united him with the Mario from here in the present. "So it worked!" Eggman exclaimed at his victory. "My Egg Timer did its job! I feel so brilliant after all that I went through to build this!"

Wario, sitting at another desk and playing "Game and Wario" on his Nintendo Wii U, overheard what Eggman had said. He replied: "I guess it comes to prove one ding, boss. You're all heart."

"I've got a heart for villains indeed, Wario," Eggman said. "But a heart for heroes is too heavy of a burden for them to carry."

"But boss, you got it all wrong! You recently told us you had NO HEART!"

"Oh, right. I have forgotten that. Anyway, it's time for the next phase of my sneaky, evil, devious, and underhanded scheme!" Eggman slid his chair to his Egg Timer and sat back down to pull certain levers and push certain buttons. "This will be a cinch!" he continued. "Never before has this happened! I did not even have to use the all-powerful Time Stones to create this latest invention of mine!"

"Pardon me for asking," Wario replied. "But what is da difference between da Power Stones and da Time Stones?"

"The Power Stones," Eggman explained, "are something that brings great power to whoever holds them. On the other hand, the Time Stones brings you to a certain year that you desire to visit. Sonic foolishly dropped the secret on how he used them and how he managed to travel to the same year that I took over Mobotropolis. But now I have done enough explaining. It's time to begin!"

But before he could finish the operation, he heard footsteps walking towards his direction. Nervous about this, he called out: "Waluigi, is that you?" There was no answer; Waluigi had not arrived back from his mission yet. "Wario," Eggman continued, "is that you?"

"No!" Wario replied, still playing his video game.

Eggman turned and looked out into the distance of the now-darkened lab. He saw a small-sized silhouette walking into the lab without being identified. Eggman smiled as he recognized who that man really was, so he stepped forward to grab the man by the neck and choke him. He dragged the short man into the lab and flashed a light at his face. "AHA!" Eggman shrieked once he saw who it was. "IT'S SNIVELY!"

Wario overheard what was going on and came over to his boss. "Snively who?" he asked.

"This," Eggman replied, still holding the intruder by the neck. "This is my nephew Snively Robotnik. I took him in after his father died during the Great War. I thought this little one died along with my city Robotropolis!"

Snively choked and coughed as he tried to spit out: "That's what YOU think, Julian! I still live! And I can still defy you and all you stand for!"

"But that's about to change, sadly," Eggman replied as he let go of his nephew's neck. "Hmm… you haven't changed a bit after all these years."

"You've changed too much!" Snively replied. "I see you're as merciful as ever, Uncle Julian."

"Only to those who agree with me, Snively. But to those who oppose me, I kill them all! Unless they are worthy enough to serve me after I roboticize them! And by the way, Snively, call me SIR from now on!"

"How come this guy here can call you whatever you like?" Snively said as he pointed towards Wario.

"Because he is more trustworthy than YOU are, you idiot!"

"Sorry, sir. By the way, do you still have your roboticizer?"

"Indeed I do, Snively! But there is only one thing that I need to do in order to fulfill the next part of my greatest mission. I created my new Egg Timer to bring myself from the past, in order to obtain the keys to the roboticizer. I had lost them while bringing my machine here to our new lab. Now I must bring my past self and take from him, or should I say me, the roboticizer's keys."

"What the heck do you need keys for?!"

"You idiot!" Eggman said angrily. "I want to reactivate my roboticizer and use it as a deadly tool for my brilliant plan! But as for the rest, I will not tell you until later. Got it?!"

"Yes sir. I don't know how you dragged me into this mess, but I never wanted to join you again!"

"Well, that's too bad! You're staying with me for as long as I need you! Anyway, time for me to send the past Mario back to where he belongs and for me to bring MY past self!" With that, Eggman walked back over to his Egg Timer and punched in the correct coordinates (dialing the correct year of Earth, comparing it with the correct year of Mobius) to bring in his old self. It was to be a long process that required patient waiting.

In the meanwhile, somewhere in Brooklyn, Shadow took a walk outside into the open air of the city. He tried his best to dodge from the humans that passed by and almost noticed him. After a moment of hiding in a darkened alley, he thought that he was a goner at first. "I'm getting nowhere with this," he thought to himself. "Perhaps it's not safe to be out here in the streets. People will come looking for me just to eliminate me and finish the job from more than fifty years ago. I must go back to the motel quickly!"

But right when he took a sharp turn around the corner of a building, he bumped into a familiar figure. He looked up to see that the mild scientist Christopher Thorndyke was standing right in front of him. Astonished, Christopher looked down at the hedgehog in amusement. "I've been looking all over for you, Shadow!" he spoke up. "I better get you to my lab. Remember me? I'm the best friend you've got. And it looks like you're in trouble again. Let's go, before the police arrive! Hurry!"

Blindly, Shadow had no choice but to follow Chris to his lab and wait for further instructions. "Now that you're here," Chris continued once they arrived, "I'm gonna give you a painless treatment. I'll put this special coating around you for if someone dares to shoot you. This is basically another layer of fur with the same color as yours, and with a metal shell underneath. It's like a bullet-proof vest. Clamp it around your torso and you'll be safe... Actually, I also need to work on something for the head as well. But still, things will finally be looking up for you."

As Shadow clamped the protective armor around him, his deep thoughts engulfed his mind: "Even though I'll be safe, what about the rest of my friends?"

**NEXT TIME: OLD MEMORIES RETURN!**


End file.
